American Hospital Association Executive Vice President Tom Nickels challenged a RAND Corporation report that suggests Medicare prices should act as a benchmark for private insurers "in spite of Medicare reimbursing well below the cost of providing care," according to a press release.
Nickels claimed that RAND took "research short-cuts," including hand-picked samples of employers and insurers who only account for 0.7% of inpatient admissions and 1.8% of outpatient visitations. In addition, it is argued that the study's usage of "Leapfrog" data is unreliable since it may be imprecise and dated.
"These concerns are compounded by a global pandemic that represents the greatest financial threat in history for hospitals and health systems. The case for pulling resources from care providers was weak from the start. It is beyond reckless to advance this approach now," Nickels said.
The RAND hospital pricing study is ongoing with round three recently being completed. Currently, RAND is taking applicants for round four of its exhaustive study of hospitals across the U.S. Whether these studies will result in substantive policy changes remains to be seen.
